Cabotage policy won’t be reinstated, says Loke
KOTA KINABALU: The federal government will not reinstate the cabotage policy.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke informed Sabah DAP chairman Stephen Wong this after the National Shipping and Port Council had recommended to the federal government to reinstate the cabotage policy.
Wong, who is Minister of Health and People’s Wellbeing of Sabah and Sandakan member of parliament, pointed out that he has all along opposed the cabotage policy as it restricts the development of the local shipping industry and is one of the main causes of the high prices of goods and lack of industrialisation in Sabah.
DAP has always been standing in opposition to the implementation of the cabotage policy, until its suspension last year as announced by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Loke clarified to Wong that the government is studying the impact of the suspending the cabotage policy, not reconsidering its implementation. In any case, he pointed out that the policy has little to do with lower prices of goods.
Wong said that maintaining the current status quo would at least stop the prices from rising any further.
“If the cabotage policy is restored, the prices of goods in Sabah will see another wave of increase, which will undoubtedly a major blow to the already burdened people of Sabah. This is totally unacceptable,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Wong also conveyed to Loke that the high cost of shipping to Sabah is due to the monopolised market created by the implementation of cabotage policy over the years. This has caused the prices of goods in Sabah to be higher than in peninsular for many years. This is why the people of Sabah have always hoped that once the cabotage policy has been abolished, the government will develop the port facilities and shipping industry in Sabah concurrent with that of peninsular, instead of returning to the old ways of allowing a handful of companies to monopolise the industry and in turn, exploit Sabah.
He also gave a stern warning to the government to not implement policies that are unfavourable to the people of Sabah as such. On the contrary, the government should review and revamp many similar policies that are unfair to the people of Sabah for instance, the dissimilar disproportionate maximum BDM for lorries in Sabah as they are much less compared to that of the peninsular, which have caused the transportation and logistic costs in Sabah to hike.
Wong hopes that the government would continue to be openminded to develop Sabah ports and shipping industry in a fair and equitable manner, to assist the industralisation of the state, and give Sabah an opportunity to compete with Asia Pacific countries given its strategic geographical position in the region.
He also noted that the state government already has plans underway to develop the ports of Sabah. He hopes to see the federal government cooperate with the state government in promoting the economic development of the state, instead of sacrificing the interests of all Sabahans to protect the vested interests of the handful of shipping companies.
Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Junz Wong has also rejected the suggestion to reinstate the cabotage policy and called on the federal government to show political will and determination to eliminate discrimination by abolishing the cabotage policy.
Junz, who is also the vice president of Warisan Sabah, reminded the federal government that it had pledged to honour Sabah as an equal partner and had promised to equalise the prices of commodities in Sabah with Malaya.